Wheel-well fears cancel 1,000 flights

American Airlines canceled another 1,000 flights today -- including at least 20 departures out of Los Angeles International Airport - after inspectors found that wiring in the wheel wells of several Boeing MD-80 jetliners still failed to meet federal regulations.

Added to Tuesday's 460 cancellations, that brings the two-day total to around 1,500 lost flights. Sixteen flights coming in and out of LAX were scrubbed Tuesday.

More flights were canceled today as crews re-examine American's fleet of 300 Boeing MD-80 airliners, according to airline executives. Affected passengers were placed on other flights offered by American and their competitors.

This is the second time in recent weeks that American grounded its fleet of 300 Boeing MD-80s to make sure the wiring complies with an airworthiness directive issued by the Federal Aviation Administration.

FAA inspectors examined the wiring on several of American's MD-80s at airports in Dallas-Fort Worth and Tulsa, Okla., on Monday and found that the planes did not meet the agency's standards, according to Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman.

The discovery prompted American to pull all flights using the MD-80 jetliners on Tuesday afternoon.

"We're working with everybody who operates MD-80s to make sure they comply with the air worthiness directives," Gregor said.

The second round of inspections will focus on the spacing and direction of cords used to secure wire bundles to the MD-80's hydraulic systems in the airplane's wheel well, according to executives from the Forth Worth-based American Airlines.

The finding comes after American canceled more than 400 flights nationwide March 26 and 27 to make sure the same set of wire bundles met the FAA's airworthiness directive, which is a legally enforceable rule requiring airlines to fix unsafe conditions on aircraft.

"We've been working in good faith to ensure that we are in complete compliance with this airworthiness directive," Gerard Arpey, chairman and CEO of American Airlines, said in a statement.

"We regret and apologize that we are once again causing inconvenience to our customers, but we will continue to work in good faith until we satisfy all of the technical issues related to this airworthiness directive."

Delta Airlines canceled 275 flights two weeks ago to complete a similar wiring inspection on 117 of its Boeing MD-88 aircraft.

The latest round of federal inspections also prompted United Airlines to cancel more than 40 flights nationwide last week so that crews could inspect the cargo fire suppression system on its entire fleet of 52 Boeing 777 jetliners.

Southwest Airlines grounded 41 jetliners on March 11 until it could prove to the FAA that it complied with airworthiness directives for its fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft. The FAA then fined the airline for $10.2 million.

That prompted acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell to order federal inspectors to confirm whether all domestic airlines are meeting the agency's directives.

As a result, the FAA launched an audit of all airline maintenance records. Results of a preliminary audit released last week found that the nation's airlines were in compliance with about 99 percent of the roughly 2,400 airworthiness directives that were examined, according to the FAA. A final audit is due June 30.